Cassandra's Dream (2007)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Woody Allen sticks with thrillers after the brilliant "Match Point" and good "Scoop". This doesn't measure up to either, but is decent enough nonetheless. Is very good for the most part. Allen takes his time to set the scene and sketch the characters, but it isn't boring or contrived. The story moves along smoothly and effortlessly. However, the ending felt rushed, and a bit predictable. After the slow build up, the pacing was inconsistent. Felt a bit flat, and left down, at the end, as I was expecting a more left field or symbolic ending.Good acting from Colin Farrell, especially, and Ewan McGregor.

Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell star in "Cassandra's Dream," also starring Tom Wilkinson and Hayley Atwell.Set in London, McGregor and Farrell play brothers Ian and Terry. Terry is a compulsive gambler who works in a car shop (Farrell), and Ian (McGregor) is helping his father out at the family restaurant but wants to do big things in the investment world.Terry is the wild one, a hard drinker who racks up 90,000 pounds of debt and has to go to a loan shark. Ian, meanwhile, uses the fancy cars where his brother works and talks big to impress a young actress (Atwell), with whom he falls madly in love.Their mother (Claire Higgins) brags constantly about her brother Howard (Wilkinson), the wealthy L.A. plastic surgeon, and Uncle Howard visits, giving the boys a chance to hit him up for money -- Terry for his gambling debts and Ian so he can buy into some L.A. hotels. That's fine with Uncle Howard, but he wants something in return. It seems he and his clinics are under investigation, and one of his associates, Martin Burns (Phil Davis) is ready to testify against him. What he wants in exchange for helping out is that his nephews kill Martin Burns.The brothers balk, and Terry absolutely refuses, but gradually both he and Ian come around and agree to do it.This is Woody Allen, so there is no Hayes code or old Hollywood ending to these types of films when he does them. As in "Match Point," Allen plays on the themes of fate, God, and here, the misery of life. What is it he said in one film, life is full of horror and tragedy, and it's over too quickly, and then he compared it with women in the Poconos complaining about the horrible food, and one says, yes, and in such small portions.In "Crimes and Misdemeanors," Allen explored the theme of guilt, and the Martin Landau character comes to a conclusion about it. Here, he explores another side of guilt while holding fast to the feelings expressed by Landau in Crimes, and not expressed -- but certainly felt -- by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in "Match Point." And he plays on the irony of fate in a way done in neither of the above-mentioned films. He's done Ingmar Bergman, now he does Dostoyevsky. I have no idea how Allen can be so incredibly prolific, but I'm so glad that he is, and that sometimes he's willing to be so deadly serious. Though "Cassandra's Dream" doesn't have the operatic highs of "Match Point," it's still a strong film, driven by an inexhaustible mind.

Woody Allen proves his versatility once again by writing-directing a serious movie, set in London, with working-class leading characters. It's a delicate mix of slice-of-life, character drama, a small dose of black comedy ("What are you doing there, plotting an assassination?"), and even some moments of heart-stopping suspense. Most of the suspense, however, is of the cerebral kind. Allen gets the viewer thinking: "Will they go through with it?", "What would I do in their place?", and near the end, "My God, I can't believe he's even thinking of doing that, but then again, what other choices does he have left?". A fine ensemble cast, Philip Glass' haunting score, and Vilmos Zsigmond's vivid cinematography complete the package of one of Allen's most provocative and underrated films, although his staging does feel a tad "TV-ish" at times. *** out of 4.

Whitout being one of the best moderns movies from Woody Allen, I gave it a 7. I found interesting the reaction of Terry (Farrell) from crime, similar to Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment". Another thoughtful point is to analyze the ambition one can find in the human nature, in front of things like money and in the case of Ian (McGregor) to beauty.Perhaps the most striking scene is when Ian (McGregor) tries to assassinate his own brother, and finally he repents himself.At some point in the film Angela (Atwell) talks with a friend about the Greek tragedies, and the very history of this film ends up being that: a Greek-style tragedy.